New Zealand Trip 2011, Beautiful Yet Exciting!

New Zealand is such a beautiful place. Our first stop was Queenstown and the picture here is the view we get from the city centre itself. Magnificent and picturesque! How I wish I could wake up to the view of a mountain range every morning. If there is one place that I will like to retire in, Queenstown will be it!

We went for two day tours in Queenstown. The first of which was the Milford Sound tours. On the way we passed by the Mirror Lake and chanced upon a rainbow!

The tour of Milford sound was on a cruise and it was great! We saw waterfalls, dolphins and seals! As it was raining rather heavily, we did not take out our cameras and missed the opportunity to take more pictures. =(

 

On the way back to Queenstown from Milford Sound, it snowed somewhere along the road! And what a heavy snow it was! All the passengers on the bus were excited and so were we!

The second tour was the tour to Mt Cook. Once again, spectacular views of mountains and valleys on the way!

We also passed by Lake Pukaki where we were supposed to see Mt Cook at the end of the lake. But it was a cloudy day and Mt Cook was hidden!

We finally reached the Mt. Cook National Park. Even though we didn't get to see Mt. Cook due to the clouds, we didn't waste any time having fun and taking pictures!

We finally had to leave Queenstown with much reluctance. However, more activities await us at our next destination, the city of geothermal activity and adventures Rotorua! Our first activity is whitewater rafting down the beautiful Kaituna river. The highlight of the rafting journey is a descend down a 7m waterfall! Exciting!

After whitewater rafting, we headed straight for the Polynesian Spa where we dipped ourselves in the thermal pools overlooking Lake Rotorua. The lake is full of seagulls and other birds and is gorgeous in the evening sun.

The next day, we went to Wai-o-tapu, the geothermal wonderland. On the way, we got to visit the mud pools as well as the Lady Knox Geyser where water sprouted to a height of almost 20m!

The Wai-o-tapu national park was a colourful one where rocks show traces of different colours due to the minerals accumulated from the geothermal activities.

 

Our last activity in Rotorua was the most exciting! We went to Agroventures where I tried the Rotorua Bungy while Wan Ching and Wan Wei did the Swoop, swinging themselves high and fast! Here are the videos:

Our last day was in New Zealand was spent in Auckland where we visited the Auckland Museum. It was large and filled with lots of information. We didn't have the time to view all the exhibitions as the museum closed at 5pm. We visited the Sky City Casino at night and that was all, we were going back to Singapore the next day. =(

It was really a nice trip: the beautiful and magnificent mountain views of Queenstown, the relaxing spa and adrenalin-pumping activities in Rotorua and the nice and friendly people there. Best of all, I got to enjoy everything with my beloved Wan Ching! It was really lovely to be able to see her when before I go to bed every night and again when I wake up in the morning! And I liked the meals she cooked for me very much! <3 Looking forward to our next vacation!